Today's News

Kentuckians are buying more stuff, but they aren’t paying as much in taxes, and that has left the state with a $90 million revenue shortfall.
The state budget office released the year-end report on general fund receipts Thursday, showing that the amount of tax revenue collected in fiscal year 2014 fell 1 percent short of the official $9.55 billion estimate when it ended June 30.

Superintendent Taylora Schlosser introduced three new central office employees at the July 8 Marion County Board of Education meeting.
Traci Sharpe will serve as the district's director of exceptional child education. Troy Benningfield is the new instructional supervisor and food service director, and Jennifer Osbourne is the new personnel director.
"You have to surround yourself with great personnel and allow them to do their jobs," Schlosser said.

Two citizens spoke to the Marion County Board of Education at the end of its July 8 meeting, and they expressed contrary views about the district's leadership.
Amanda Beard concluded her remarks by calling for Superintendent Taylora Schlosser and the school board members to resign, while Barney Tharp defended Schlosser and the school board for recent steps they have taken.
After each of them spoke, Board Member Butch Cecil thanked them for taking the time to go through the process to get on the agenda.

The July 8 meeting of the Marion County Board of Education concluded with more than 30 minutes of public comments from citizens. The hour of the meeting before those comments included a number of procedural matters for the 2014-15 academic year.
Each of these items were approved 3-0. Board Member Bernard Miles was not present during last week’s meeting.
The following items were approved last week:
• The student code of conduct for the 2014-15 school year.
• Exceptional child education procedures for special education programs.

OK, let’s try this again.
The issue of the superintendent’s evaluation was raised near the end of a citizens meeting held June 30 in Loretto. One of the specific issues discussed was whether that evaluation needed to be conducted in open session.
I was mistaken in some of what I reported last week, and I want to try to clarify as best I can.

The past two weeks, I have heard testimony on issues from new temporary tags and the Kentucky Automated Vehicle Information System (KAVIS) for vehicle deeds, to the need for a Veterans’ Center in Bowling Green. This is something I appreciate as a legislator; learning about the complex and various issues so important to our citizens on a firsthand basis. In the district, I recently visited the Dunnville Post Office with Rep. Mike Harmon about the proposed reduction of operating hours.

Just as most businesses do not find instant success, a new employee won’t hit full capacity on the first day on the job. Hiring and training a new employee takes time and, for some companies, training new employees presents an expense that might even slow growth.

The Lebanon City Council is holding special-called meetings at 5:30 p.m. Friday, July 11, and 5:30 p.m. Monday, July 14.

The agenda for Friday's meeting includes the second reading of an ordinance, which would remove 10-minute parking on the 200 block of W. Main Street and replace it with two-hour parking. The first reading of this ordinance was approved at the council's July 7 meeting.